Sandra Bland's mother gave an emotional speech on Thursday and told activists to "wake up, get up, step up, or shut up."

Bland was arrested after a traffic stop in Texas last year and found dead in her jail cell three days later. Officials ruled her death a suicide, but her family has said they don't believe Bland would have killed herself.

While Bland's case drew national attention, her mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, pointed out that many could not name the other women who died in jail last July, the month Bland was arrested.

"What I’m going to say to you is that I’m here representing the mothers who are not heard, I am here representing the mothers who have lost children as we go on about our daily lives," she said during a speech at the Library of Congress at a symposium convened by the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls. The recently-formed caucus seeks to "eliminate significant barriers and disparities experienced by black women.”

"When the cameras and lights are gone, our babies are dead. So I’m going to ask you here today to wake up. Wake up. By a show of hands, can any of you tell me the other six women who died in jail in July 2015 along with Sandra Bland? That is a problem. You all are among the walking dead, and I am so glad that I have come out from among you."

Brian Encinia, the trooper who arrested Bland was fired in January after being charged with perjury for allegedly lying about his interaction with Bland. A grand jury declined to indict any jailers in connection with her death.

"The tears are real, the pain is real, the problem is real. So, I don’t come here playing games with you all. I don’t come to sit and be a part of a caucus where we talk and do nothing," she said.

Reed-Veal has endorsed Democratic presidential front-runner, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and has traveled with her on the campaign trail.

"Am I angry? Absolutely. I’m not angry enough to create a riot where I burn things down, but I will create a riot, I will set off so that people will understand that this is real. Movements move. Activists activate. We have got to stop talking and move. So I leave you with this: It is time to wake up, get up, step up, or shut up."

Over&nbsp;a year after Tanisha Anderson lost her life in an incident with Cleveland police officers, <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/11/vigil_marks_anniversary_of_tan.html" target="_blank">her family is still waiting for answers</a>. <br><br>The 37-year-old died after her mother called 911 while Anderson was having a "<a href="http://media.newsnet5.com/uploads/Anderson%20Wrongful%20Death%20Lawsuit.pdf?_ga=1.23829242.1315093678.1418058803" target="_blank">mental health episode</a>," as described in the family's subsequent lawsuit against city police.&nbsp;Officials say that when officers tried to take Anderson to a treatment facility, she struggled and then went limp. Her family says police slammed her to the ground and put a knee in her back. A medical examiner ruled Anderson&rsquo;s death a homicide, the result of being "<a href="http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/01/medical_examiner_releases_full.html" target="_blank">physically restrained in a prone position by Cleveland police</a>."&nbsp;Her heart condition and bipolar disorder were also considered factors.<br><br>The Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/06/cuyahoga_county_sheriffs_depar_4.html" target="_blank">began investigating the incident in July</a> at the request of the prosecutor&rsquo;s office. <br><br>In a wrongful death lawsuit, Anderson's family alleges that CPD Officers Scott Aldridge and Bryan Myers <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tanisha-anderson-lawsuit_n_6430080" target="_blank">did not provide medical attention</a>&nbsp;to Anderson as she lay on the ground unconscious.<br><br>Aldridge had <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/01/cleveland_cop_involved_in_tani.html" target="_blank">previously been suspended</a> for violating the department's use-of-force policies, according to Northeast Ohio Media Group, and was disciplined in 2012 for his role in the deaths of Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell (see slide #6 in this collection).&nbsp;Aldridge and Myers&nbsp;deny that they caused Anderson&rsquo;s death and have&nbsp;<a href="http://www.cleveland19.com/story/29502390/officers-ask-judge-to-dismiss-lawsuit-in-tanisha-anderson-case" target="_blank">asked for the case to be dismissed</a>.<br><br>The month after Anderson was killed, an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice concluded that Cleveland police have a <a href="http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/2014/12/04/cleveland_division_of_police_findings_letter.pdf" target="_blank">pattern of using excessive force</a>, including against people who are mentally ill, and that they don&rsquo;t use appropriate techniques to account for mental illness.<br><br>Mauvion Green, Anderson&rsquo;s daughter, told Northeast Ohio Media Group last year that she wants to work for <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2014/11/daughter_of_mentally_ill_cleve.html" target="_blank">conscientious treatment of people&nbsp;with mental illnesses</a>. "I'm fighting for my mother, but I'm fighting for everyone else, too," Green said.